The survey of 1,000 people aged 19 or older nationwide said that 32.3 percent of respondents said they will stop smoking, if cigarette prices rise. Some 51.6 percent said they will continue to smoke, while 16.1 percent said: “I don’t know.”
Two days earlier, Minister of Health and Welfare Moon Hyung-pyo called for raising cigarette prices by at least 2,000 won per pack to 4,500 won to help cut the country’s smoking rate.
About 64.5 percent of those questioned said they support the government’s plan to raise cigarette prices, said the poll jointly conducted by the health and welfare ministry and the Korea Health Promotion Foundation.
Smokers accounted for 20.9 percent of the total interviewees. Of those smokers, 70.3 percent said they oppose the cigarette price hikes.
South Korea’s cigarette prices, which have been frozen since 2008, are only one-third of an average US$6.4 per pack for member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the health authorities.
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